PNCA Press Center

PORTLAND, OR – September 3, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) welcomes award-winning design professional Lisa Strausfeld, who will give the 2013 Convocation Address on Friday, September 13 in the PNCA Commons. Strausfeld is known for her work in digital information design projects, beginning with a company she launched with two MIT classmates that made visual user interfaces for large databases, spanning ten years at design studio, Pentagram, and currently at Bloomberg where she is Global Head of Data Visualization. In addition, Strausfeld is a member of the PNCA’s Creative Leaders Council. This advisory board helps to shape PNCA’s future by advising on how to expand PNCA’s creative brand and deepen the College’s influence in the world of art and design.

PORTLAND, OR – September 3, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art’s (PNCA) MA in Critical Theory and Creative Research Program is pleased to announce that Stéphanie Bertrand of Thessaloniki, Greece, and Nate Harrison of Brooklyn, New York, have been awarded first place in the 2013 Hannah Arendt Prize for original writing on Critical Theory and Creative Research for their essays “Dropouts” and “Immanence of Intervention, Revival of Critique,” respectively. The quality of their ideas and the level of writing were so high that the judges could not decide between them, and, thus, the two will share the prize and the $5,000 cash award. The competition elicited submissions from applicants hailing from 34 countries around the globe, and was determined by a distinguished roster of judges. This year’s theme was On Art and Disobedience; Or, What Is an Intervention?

PORTLAND, OR – August 23, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), project^, and the Powell family are pleased to announce the opening of ArtHouse, a striking new student residence for PNCA students, just in time for the arrival of the beginning of the 2013-14 academic year. This six-story building designed by Thomas Robinson of LEVER Architecture and located at 33 NW Park Avenue will bring 130 students to Portland’s North Park Blocks and the surrounding Pearl District. ArtHouse stands just across the PNCA’s Museum of Contemporary Craft on the North Park blocks. The residence is the first ground up project built specifically to house PNCA students on the North Park Blocks and will be the counter anchor to PNCA’s main building, the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design at 511 NW Broadway, now a former post office slated for renovation with completion expected in 2015. PNCA’s urban campus is expected to jumpstart additional economic development and vitality along the North Park Blocks and the adjacent Old Town district.
With its fall opening, ArtHouse will stand testament to PNCA’s continued growth and appeal to a widening range of students. More than 60% of the college’s students come from outside Oregon.

PORTLAND, OR – July 23, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) hosts Emerging Tactics: Public Schools, a project by RECESS. This artist-run free school runs from August 1 through August 23 Monday through Saturday from 11am to 8pm in PNCA’s Swigert Commons. There will be an opening reception on August 1 from 5-9pm.

PORTLAND, OR – July 14, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents the third biannual Boundary Crossings Institute in Animated Arts this summer from July 29 through August 9, 2013. Recognizing that the traditional boundaries between live action, animation, and images are no longer fixed and that hybrid moving images continue to change and morph with the development of digital technologies, this two-week institute explores digital animation and an expanded notion of the screen through the lenses of technology itself, fine art practices, and critical theory. The Institute features hands-on making, group and individual critiques, lectures and screenings, and a collaborative creative environment. Boundary Crossings culminates with a public exhibition of animated installations created during the Institute on August 9 in Swigert Commons in PNCA’s Main Campus Building.

Portland, OR – June 21, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) welcomes Brenda Smola to its Board of Governors. Smola most recently was Honorary Co-chair of the committee for PNCA’s tremendously successful annual Gala, Transformation: Creativity Works Here. This year’s Gala raised more than $500,000 for student scholarships, topping all previous galas. Smola is well known as the creator of Industry & Art, an annual event that brings together artists and the industrial community to raise funds for education and the environment. It is this suite of skills and interests that make Smola the ideal fit for the board of a College that is building bridges between the arts, education, and Portland’s creative sector businesses.

PORTLAND, OR – June 3, 2013 – On Saturday, June 1, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) held its 2013 Gala at Vigor Industrial’s shipyard on Swan Island. The sold- out event, with a record attendance of more than 500 people, raised more than $511,450, surpassing its $500,000 goal. Together with the PNCA Benefit Art Auction, the College raised more than $580,450 through special events this year to benefit its students, faculty, and programs.

PORTLAND, OR – June 3, 2013 – At its 11th annual gala on Saturday, June 1, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) announced a $1 million gift from Dorothy Lemelson toward its $15 million philanthropic campaign, CREATIVITYWORKSHERE, in support of the College’s strategic move to renovate the historic former federal post office at 511 NW Broadway and anchor the PNCA campus on Portland’s North Park Blocks.

PORTLAND, OR – May 31, 2013 – The Murdock Charitable Trust has awarded Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) a grant of $119,800 over three years to build technological capacity, specifically to fund the hire of a web developer. The grant supports the enhancement of the institution’s digital presence ensuring that its web properties serve collectively as an effective recruiting tool, a tool for student engagement, and a platform for communication about campus expansion.

Portland, OR—May 23, 2013—The Feldman Gallery at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents Topoanalysis, an immersive installation by Sarah McNeil, June 15 through August 4, 2013. McNeil is the summer visiting artist for PNCA’s Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program. The installation consists of a forest of miniature tree sculptures and a projected stop-motion animation of an unconventional futuristic house. The Feldman Gallery will host an opening reception for McNeil on Wednesday, June 19 from 6-8pm.

May 10, 2013 – PORTLAND, OR – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) announces the formation of the Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies at PNCA, the result of an historic philanthropic gift. In 2007, the late Hallie Ford gave PNCA $15 million, the largest single gift ever made to an Oregon cultural institution. Supported by this gift, PNCA launched five graduate programs in five years: the MFA in Visual Studies, the MFA in Collaborative Design, the MA in Critical Theory and Creative Research, the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies, and the MFA in Applied Craft and Design (offered jointly with Oregon College of Art and Craft in an innovative partnership). These graduate programs are now united within the Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies.

PORTLAND, OR – May 9, 2013 – The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) will present its 2013 Gala, Transformation: The Power of Creativity on June 1, against the dramatic backdrop of Vigor Industrial’s shipyards. The College’s signature annual fundraising event provides vital support for PNCA students, faculty, and programs. Vigor, the Gala’s visionary partner, is located at 5555 N. Channel Avenue, Swan Island. Tickets are $250 each.

PORTLAND, OR – April 15, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is honored to welcome art historian, curator, and educator Roger Mandle to deliver PNCA’s 2013 Commencement Address on Sunday, May 26, 4 pm, at Tiffany Center at 1410 SW Morrison. Dr. Mandle, perhaps best known as President Emeritus of the Rhode Island School of Design, has headed up a number of major museums including the National Gallery of Art in the United States and is currently the Executive Director of the Qatar Museums Authority. He’ll give a talk entitled, “What Did You Say? Some Thoughts About the Arts.”

PORTLAND, OR – March 28, 2013 – In celebration of the launch of its new BFA in Writing program, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is pleased to welcome three acclaimed Portland writers – Lidia Yuknavitch, Tom Spanbauer, and Chuck Palahniuk – for an evening of words and on words. Write Now; Tom Spanbauer, Lidia Yuknavitch, and Chuck Palahniuk on Monday, April 22 at 7:30pm in the Commons at PNCA celebrates this new writing program chaired by associate professor and award-winning novelist Monica Drake, author of the just-published Stud Book which Cheryl Strayed called “a take-your-breath-away good, blow-your mind wise, crack-your-heart-open beauty of a novel,” and Clown Girl, which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Awards.

Portland, OR—February 6, 2013—The Feldman Gallery and Project Space at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents two projects by the internationally renowned arts collective Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) Wednesday, March 13, 2013 through Sunday, June 2, 2013. CAE’s visit to Portland will include programs dedicated to the issues of income disparities and the practice of research within the arts, building on CAE’s expertise in areas of tactical media, archive and database reuse, and media literacy. One of the programs will be a lecture by theorist Brian Holmes.

Portland, OR—January 21, 2013—Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) brings provocative and pivotal thinkers, designers, and artists from all over the country to Portland for the Spring 2013 PNCA Graduate Visiting Artist Lecture Series. Each of the lectures is free and open to the public.

Portland, OR—January 3, 2013—Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is poised to celebrate the completion of a three-year, student-led project to build a new bicycle shelter for the College. Alumnus David Boekelheide, who received his MFA in Applied Craft and Design (a joint program of PNCA and Oregon College of Art and Craft) in 2011, designed and fabricated the organic structure as well as shepherded the project through an extensive approval process. PNCA Dean of Student Services Michael Hall spearheaded the project for the College.

Portland, OR – November 29, 2012 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) welcomes Sean Woodard as Director of Human Resources. Woodard joins PNCA with more than 10 years of human resources management and business partner experience working for such organizations as OHSU, Knowledge Learning Corporation, and the City of Portland.

Portland, OR – November 29, 2012 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) and Oregon College of Art and Craft welcome the public to an Open Studios event for the Masters of Fine Art in Applied Craft and Design program on Friday, December 7, 2012 from 6pm-9pm. The public is invited to meet students, faculty, staff, and mentors and see the range of projects on which MFA candidates are working in the bustling open studios located in the Bison Building (421 NE 10th Avenue), a former warehouse in Portland’s Central Eastside. Projects range from installation art to hand dyed fibers to modern craft furniture.

Portland, OR – November 20, 2012 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) welcomes two new members to its Board of Governors: alumnus Jean-Pierre Veillet ’97, designer, builder, developer, and owner of Siteworks; and Craig Boretz, Vice President of Corporate Development for Con-way, Inc. Both Boretz and Veillet are artists, Boretz a painter and Veillet a sculptor. PNCA also welcomes Board member Tom Shipley to a new term and honors two emeriti governors, John Shipley and Sally Lawrence.

PORTLAND, OR — November 16, 2012 — Combining traditional craft with modern design, the 2014 MFA candidates in the Masters in Applied Craft and Design program, jointly offered by Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) and Oregon College of Arts and Crafts (OCAC), collaborated to develop Center + Nest, a limited-edition line of centerpieces inspired by the season. Center + Nest is available at the newly redesigned Gallery Store at Museum of Contemporary Craft.

PORTLAND, OR – NOVEMBER 8, 2012 – In an exhibition exchange that is unprecedented for Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), the College’s Feldman Gallery + Project Space will partner with Threewalls, a Chicago nonprofit art organization dedicated to cultivating contemporary art practice and discourse. For Binary Lore, Feldman Gallery curator Mack McFarland and Shannon Stratton, curator and director of Threewalls, have collectively selected two artists from their respective cities for the dual exhibitions. Opening on December 6 in the Feldman Gallery + Project Space Binary Lore will showcase Edie Fake, from Chicago and PNCA alumna Brenna Murphy ’09, from Portland. A new version of the exhibition will be on display at Threewalls in June 2013.

PORTLAND, OR – NOVEMBER 6, 2012 – The Master of Fine Arts in Collaborative Design at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in partnership with SOLVE is issuing the Clean Beaches Design Challenge, inviting teams of college students to design innovative solutions to clean up tsunami and other marine debris on Oregon beaches.

PORTLAND, OR – OCTOBER 24, 2012 – The MA in Critical Theory and Creative Research Program at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is pleased to announce that Rob Marks has won the Hannah Arendt Prize for his essay “The Site of Imaginative Contention,” with judges citing his direct, unblinking address of the question. The prize, in its inaugural year, carries a $2,000 cash award and is funded by the Colville Foundation and Gard Communications.